Chapter 773: Bruce? Not Familiar at All! (Part 2) (Patreon)

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In the corridor, Bruce, carrying a stack of papers, hurried towards the office. He knew that if he arrived two minutes later, today's paper might not pass.

Bruce knocked on the door, but instead of Professor Schiller, the sound inside was that of high heels. Anna, the mathematics teacher, opened the door. Bruce glanced inside and asked, "Is Professor Schiller not here?"

"He has something this afternoon. Are you here to have him review your paper?" Anna looked at her watch and said, "You might have to come after 7 pm. By then, he should be back to pick up his things."

Bruce stood there stunned. "After 7 pm? But it's only 2 pm now. Where did Professor Schiller go?"

Anna shook her head, saying, "I don't know. After lunch, he hurried back, took two basic psychology books, and left. Why don't you try looking for him at the library or somewhere similar?"

"The library?" Bruce was surprised, but seeing Anna's expression, he didn't ask further. Instead, he left, holding the papers.

Standing downstairs in the office building, Bruce felt a bit lost. He suddenly realized he didn't know where to find Schiller.

As far as he knew, Schiller rarely went to the library. Gotham University's library was old, with few seats, and even though the bookkeepers were strict, it could be noisy. Schiller usually wrote his papers in his own Manor.

After all, Gotham University had no headmaster, and there was no one to check attendance. After morning and afternoon classes, professors could leave without anyone stopping them. So, Gotham University professors enjoyed a lot of freedom, and if they didn't have classes in the afternoon, they could go home.

Bruce thought for a moment and then headed to the parking lot. He got into his car and drove to Rodriguez Manor. When he arrived, Merkel opened the door for him, looking surprised. "Mr. Wayne? What wind blew you here?"

"I'm here to see Professor Schiller. Is he in?" Bruce asked.

Merkel hesitated and said, "No, he's been staying at the school lately and hasn't come back for several days. You might try looking for him at the school."

Bruce was about to say he came from the school, but he thought better of it. He got back in his car and returned to the school.

He went to the teacher's dorm, but the dorm supervisor told him Schiller had left early in the morning and hadn't returned all day. Bruce then checked the classrooms and the psychology lecture hall but couldn't find Schiller.

Finally, Bruce decided to call Gordon, asking if he had seen Schiller. Even after getting the answer, Bruce began to feel a headache.

If there was still one ironclad rule in Gotham, it was that when Schiller was quiet, mischief was afoot.

This was all very unusual. In the past few days, Bruce had to be on high alert every minute, fearing he might miss Schiller's call. If that happened, his paper might not pass, and he might have to rewrite it.

The discussions on the paper often lasted for hours, starting before lunch and continuing until dinner. Moreover, Schiller expressed great dissatisfaction with Bruce taking time to eat. He even suggested Bruce get a set of survival armor to reduce the time spent dealing with physiological needs.

After all this rushing, the time saved might not be as long as the time wasted this afternoon. Bruce didn't believe Schiller would disappear for no reason. More likely, he encountered something more troublesome and had to deal with it.

However, what could trouble Schiller so much?

Thinking about this, Bruce had to be extremely vigilant. If there was something that forced the professor, in urgent need of time, to spend hours dealing with it, it might threaten the life and death of not just Gotham but the entire East Coast.

With this in mind, Bruce immediately drove to the Batcave and activated the surveillance system he had in place for his Gotham subordinates.

Batman's surveillance covered every corner of Gotham. The cameras, after several technical iterations, became very durable and difficult to destroy. The entire Gotham City was under Batman's watch.

Before turning on the screens, Bruce hoped he could see Schiller's shadow among them because if Schiller wasn't in Gotham City, things could become more complicated.

However, when he turned on the screens, before spotting Schiller, Bruce noticed another unexpected guest. The person's attire was too peculiar, attracting Bruce's attention.

Dressed in a tight black suit with a green cloak, holding a flute and carrying a gun on his leg, this person stood not far from Gotham University on a street. Bruce saw that he had just come out of a music store, holding two records in his hands.

Bruce wanted to investigate, but the more urgent matter was finding Schiller's location.

He continued to look at the monitoring screens and found that Schiller had been in Gotham University all along. However, he was in an empty classroom on the Rooftop floor, and sitting across from him was Jason Todd, the kid who stole Bruce's tire.

Bruce zoomed in on the monitor and saw Schiller holding a basic psychology book, pointing to the words and explaining them to Jason, who was completely engrossed.

Just as Bruce was about to listen to what Schiller was saying, something on another monitor caught his attention.

The person in the green hood was attacking a gang member on the street, or maybe it couldn't be called an attack. The green-hooded person pulled out a flute, played it, and the gang member across the street suddenly started dancing.

But in the next moment, he was surrounded by fully armed gang members. Bruce quickly stood up, donned his Batman attire, and rushed to the scene.

Luckily, the strange person still had some life left, with only seven or eight additional holes all over his body.

Batman was certain that he was an outsider because a local wouldn't dress so strangely and stand at the intersection of three gang territories, as if announcing, "Here's a good target for target practice."

Taking advantage of the gang members' distraction, Batman dragged the peculiar person into his car and brought him to the Batcave. There, he performed a simple surgery, bandaged him up, and waited for him to wake up.

After dozens of minutes, the person in the green hood finally woke up. In a daze, he saw Batman's face. Instinctively trying to escape, severe pain prevented him from getting up. He heard Batman ask, "Who are you? What are you doing in Gotham?"

The person in the green hood was about to speak when Batman picked up the surgical knife from the side, wiped it with paper, and the person in the green hood swallowed nervously. He said, "You can call me Pied Piper..."

"Why are you in Gotham?" Batman asked again.

"I... I came for sightseeing..." Pied Piper's words were cut off as a Batarang landed next to his ear. He moved his head to the side and said, "Okay, I came to save people."

"Save who?"

"It's... Mirror Master and others."

"Mirror Master?" Batman squinted, showing a skeptical expression. He then continued, "Who else?"

"And... Captain Cold." Pied Piper took a sharp breath, the pain making his consciousness somewhat fuzzy. Scared by Batman, he began to spill the beans, "Savage, Great King. He wants to establish Gotham as a base on the East Coast. He sent Mirror Master and Captain Cold here to scout, but they got trapped, stuck in Gotham University. There's a professor there they can't deal with..."

"Savage received their distress signal and sent me to support them. I originally planned to go straight to Gotham University, but there was a music store nearby playing the music I like, so I went in and bought two records..."

Batman's gaze fell on the flute nearby. He said, "Can you control others with this flute?"

"Yes," Pied Piper said. "That's why I'm called Pied Piper..."

"Tell me more about Great King."

While Batman was interrogating Pied Piper for enemy intelligence, Schiller was in an empty classroom explaining basic psychology concepts to Jason. He said,

"...Of course, this subject can't completely answer your questions. However, you can also take philosophy and societal engineering, and some of the content falls under economics. But these subjects are different from the technical ones you've learned before."

"They won't teach you a specific skill; they're more like a compilation of human thought. They have both drawbacks and advantages compared to some technical majors."

"If you're not sure if you like these courses, you can start by reading these books." Schiller handed Jason several books, including introductory materials on basic psychology, philosophy, and economics.

Jason was holding the basic psychology book that Schiller had just given him. Engrossed in reading, and Schiller was looking at the economics book he had borrowed from the library.

The room's atmosphere quieted down. After a while, Jason rubbed his eyes, sighed, and said, "This is really amazing. I never thought you could explain some of these thoughts like this..."

Schiller took the book from him and asked, "Where did you get to? Have you read this part?"

Jason glanced at the section Schiller pointed to and said, "I've read it, and I've also finished the next unit."

"The next unit..." Schiller flipped forward and found that the next part took up a whole twelve pages. Moreover, unlike the innocent exposition of basic concepts earlier, this section included some content related to neuroscience.

Schiller frowned and asked Jason, "Did you understand the previous content?"

Jason hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm not sure, but at least I memorized it all."

Schiller widened his eyes and asked, "What did you say? You memorized all of it???"

Jason nodded and began reciting from the beginning.

As everyone knows, the tone and rhythm of reciting a text can reveal whether the person truly understands the content. If it's rote memorization or unfamiliarity, there will be problems with the intonation of certain sentences, requiring pauses for thought.

But Jason didn't show any of these issues. He recited very smoothly. Schiller, who had taught these contents to students of many grades several times, knew that not only did he memorize them, but he also understood more than half.

With Jason reciting the book, Schiller's eyes became brighter. However, at this moment, the telephone on the podium suddenly rang.

Jason was startled, and the recitation stopped. Schiller stood up, went to the telephone, picked it up, and said, "Hello? Who is it?... Bruce?"

"Who is Bruce?"

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 774: Deadly Joke (Part 1)